If you’re looking to get your hands on one of those. best cell phone I was looking into the market for my next upgrade and settled on Android as my mobile operating system. If so, you’ll probably want to add one or two Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices to your shortlist.
There are many other great Android smartphones out there, including OnePlus and Motorola. there is nothingand a few others. Google and Samsung are the most prominent Android device manufacturers outside of China. Of course, the Android you get on your Pixel isn’t exactly the same as the Android you get on your Galaxy. We’ll take a closer look at this here.
Ahead of the rollout of Android 15 and One UI 7 (no major changes), compare the Pixel experience to the Samsung experience. Also, for this particular article, we will ignore the hardware (which processors are in which devices, how many cameras) in order to make a more direct comparison.
Pixel vs Galaxy: Interface and customization
When it comes to home screen and app drawer basics, there isn’t much of a choice between Pixel and Galaxy. Because Android is Android, you can extensively customize your home screen with widgets and wallpapers (and even install new launchers). Both phones allow you to adjust the home screen grid size, but only Samsung allows you to remove the Google search bar from the home screen.
Both phones support gesture navigation or traditional three-button navigation, and Google Discover is just a single swipe from the left side of the home screen. You can also organize apps into folders, rotate your home screen to landscape or portrait mode, and show badges on notifications.
There are some differences. For example, the Pixel has its own custom at-a-glance home screen widgets that display things like weather and calendar events (which the Galaxy can emulate to some extent, but not completely). You can also see a set of recommended apps on your home screen and app drawer based on what you use most often.
Samsung, on the other hand, has a few more built-in widget options than Google, including a calendar date countdown and a system widget that shows memory and storage usage. We also offer edge panel options. This is a pane that pops out from the side of the screen and holds your favorite apps for easy access.
The edge panel is an example of a great feature on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Edge panels offer a wealth of options and features. Galaxy phones have more choices when it comes to font styles and color modes, while Pixel phones tend to have a slightly simpler and more minimal overall interface and settings screen.
Of course, both Pixel and Galaxy smartphones offer a wide selection of built-in wallpapers (and the option to create new wallpapers using AI). You can also use wallpaper (or other color combinations to suit your taste) on both smartphones. Overall, you’ll find that if you prefer simplicity with some clever touches, you’ll prefer the Pixel, and if you want as many options and features as possible, you’ll prefer the Galaxy.
Pixel and Galaxy: Built-in apps and features
Google has some of the best mobile apps in the industry, including Gmail, Google Keep, Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Docs, and YouTube. It’s hard to argue that Samsung’s alternatives are better than these apps, but they’re all available on Galaxy smartphones, and they all work the same way.
Some might argue that your Galaxy smartphone has too much bloatware if you spend all your time on Google apps. However, apps such as Samsung Health, Samsung Internet, Samsung Calendar, and Samsung Notes can be uninstalled quickly without much effort. It’s hard. However, there are some that cannot be installed, such as Galaxy Store, Samsung Contacts, and Samsung Gallery.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with preferring Samsung apps and using them instead (apps like Samsung Internet can be installed on any Android smartphone). If you have a Samsung laptop and a Samsung smartwatch, we recommend sticking with the Samsung option. If you’re an active participant in the Google ecosystem, you’re probably looking for a pure Pixel experience.
Pixel has some special tricks up its sleeve. This includes the Call Screen feature, which makes Google Assistant screen calls to help you avoid scams and spam, and the new Pixel Screenshots app, which is exclusive to the Pixel 9 series and helps surface information. From the screenshot. There’s also a great Pixel Recorder app for converting spoken text into transcribed text, but Samsung offers a version of that in the form of a voice recorder.
On Samsung’s side, Galaxy phones allow you to control the volume of individual apps individually, which is not possible on Pixel phones. Also,[設定]incorporated directly into[モードとルーティン]There are also sections. This means you can easily set up useful automations on your Samsung phone, such as customizing power-saving settings based on your location and time of day. Then there’s Samsung DeX, which allows you to use your phone as a desktop OS via your keyboard and monitor.
I should also mention Android updates. Google is in charge of the entire Android project, so it’s surprising that Pixel gets major and minor updates before Galaxy phones, as Samsung has to tweak everything to fit the One UI code. Not. If you need Android updates before anyone else, that’s why you should choose Pixel.
Pixel vs Galaxy: Onboard AI tricks and tools
Both Pixel and Galaxy phones now have a ton of AI features, but how useful they are may vary from person to person. Both of these terminal series are supported Search by circleFor example, its features continue to grow (in fact, you may remember features released on the Galaxy S24 before any Pixel smartphone).
Pixels have long impressed with their photo and video processing, even with limited hardware. You could also argue that these are the best on the market in this regard. Night Sight for low-light photography, Audio Magic Eraser for erasing background sounds from videos, Magic Eraser for removing objects from photos, and Astrophotography for capturing night skies. Above.
We’ve already talked about some other Pixel AI features and tools, such as Now Playing (which automatically identifies every song you hear in the background) and Gemini Assistant (which also makes it easy to use on your Galaxy smartphone). (can be installed).
These days, even the top-of-the-line Galaxy smartphones come with a ton of AI features. For example, tools for summarizing notes, web pages, and documents, translating them between languages, turning sketches into works of art, and moving (or erasing) objects and people in photos. There are already many features under the Galaxy AI umbrella, and more on the way.
There’s a lot of overlap between AI and apps here, and in fact there’s a lot of overlap between Pixel and Galaxy as well. Many of the AI tricks on Samsung smartphones utilize the Gemini model developed by Google. Based on the latest noise from Samsung, it’s likely that Samsung won’t forget about Bixby either, even if there isn’t much talk about generative AI.
There’s a lot to read and understand, but we haven’t covered all the differences between Pixel and Galaxy phones. If you have any reason to prefer one over the other, and if you’ve tried both thoroughly and settled on one option or the other, let us know in the comments.
